Ekim
Ekim is Tanizaki Kazuo’s foremost advisor in supernatural matters. Profile Kazuo has collected various tomes, incense, magic circles and the like. Ekim’s job is to oversee the study of them depending on how powerful the item is, he either does this personally or through subordinates. Appearance Ekim is a short, scrawny and nondescript with pallid, wasted skin and unsettling gaze shrouded in ornate ceremonial robes. Biography Chapter 4: Failure to Communicate Ekim was assigned to complete the thaumaturgic binding for Unit Zero however since he was skimming resources to free the Nameless One he wasn’t finished in time. Naturally Kazuo came to see why. Ekim was furious at the notion the he had failed but once again Kazuo ignored the theriatrics and threatened to replace him. The notion that he was somehow inferior nearly caused Ekim to attack Kazuo only to be stopped by him flooding the room with killing intent. Kuzuo told Ekim that under no uncertain terms he needed to stop dragging his feet. Unable to hide his fear Ekim agreed. Chapter 5: The Opening Moves After getting what he could from the Janus Project Doctor Metzger called Kazuo, Zhang and Ekim to inform them that Ranma and the Senshi would be fighting in an abandoned warehouse. He also warned that Sailor Saturn would be there. Zhang pointed out that this could be a good thing. Kazuo agreed so had Doctor Metzger deploy a full squad of Synths to the area where Sailor Saturn will be fighting, while having Zhang watch for opportunities to do the test run of Unit Zero without drawing suspicions. Chapter 7: Among the Enemy Kazuo once again called Nagai into the conference room, to ask him to sit in on his meeting with Ranma as a way to gain his trust. While Ekim didn’t know why they were going through so much trouble for little more then pawns. Kazuo felt this was the best way to keep the Senshi out of their hairs. Though he did assure them he had other options if Ranma refused to cooperate. When Zhang led Ranma into the conference room he instantly picked out Tanizaki Kazuo. As Ranma adjusted himself to the resources Kazuo had he introduced him to Nagai, Ekim, and Metzger. Kazuo explained that after hearing about Sailor Moon rewriting reality he’s spent the last three years trying to come up with a countermeasure to that power, and apologized Ranma and his friend getting mixed up in it. Naturally Ranma didn’t believe a word he said but agreed to along with keeping the Senshi’s attention so that he could learn what Kazuo was really after. The first place Kazuo took Ranma to was Ekim’s work station. Ranma walked through the rows upon rows of tomes, incense, magic circles and the like that Tanizaki had collected feeling his skin crawl a little as he did. Ranma tried to warn them about how dangerous magic was only to lose interest when Ekim feeling insulted started bragging about being the Chosen of the Nameless One, however he regained it again when Kazuo mentioned that with all the magical knowledge the gained they could break curses. Realizing how much Kazuo had done his homework Ranma listened as he continued his tour. Kazuo didn’t show him anything with a direct bearing, just pointless distractions, as well as revealing how much he knew about him and the others. Ekim’s true purpose was to observe Ranma in order to cast a spell on him. When Ranma rejected Kuzuo’s offer he cut off the tip of Ranma’s pigtail and gave it to Ekim to strengthen the spell. Chapter 9: Worth Fighting For Tanizaki Kazuo, with Zhang watched as Ekim finished the spell to possess Ranma when Ekim sensed Sailor Neptune attempting to scry the building. Since they were just investigating at this point Kazuo decided no to waste any resources. Unfortunately not only had Metzger’s brush with Davidson shook him, but they lost a few other key scientists in the breakout. Though he reframed having Zhang go after them since he was convinced that Ranma would return. Since he considered Usagi and Ami his biggest threat and not wanting to attack Usagi directly just yet he had Ekim go and attack Ami once his spell was complete. Ekim-Ranma was just about to force his way into Ami’s apartment when he was stopped by Sailor Mercury. Ekim-Ranma tried to convince her that he had come to talk, suspicious of his actions she asks why he'd want to talk to her since she was the one who destroyed the Bowl of Ox and Snake. He responded that he began to respect her after that, which confirms her suspicion that it's someone else, since Ranma would know it was Sailor Moon who destroyed it. He was actually Ekim possessing Ranma’s body and was caught off guard when Mercury suddenly froze him. She was interrupted from interrogating him by the arrival of her mother who was come to check on the commotion. Seeing his chance Ekim-Ranma revealed to Saeko Sailor Mercury’s true identity. While Sailor Mercury's attention was transfixed by the sudden revelation of her secret identity to her parent he used the opportunity to escape, by chucking a shattered piece of ice at her. He was just about to finish her off only to be stopped by the arrival of Sailot Moon and Jupiter who Ami had called before confronting him. Though since he was possessing Ranma Mercury stopped Jupiter from finishing her off. Gathering all Ranma's remaining strength Ekim was able to escape before Sailor Moon could complete her Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss. Chapter 10: Ties That Bind After escaping the Senshi Ekim placed Ranma back into a comatose state and deactivated his spell so that he could inform Tanizaki what happened. Naturally Tanizaki was angry to find that Ekim had failed, but he became absolutely livid upon finding out that Mercury figured out that everything Ranma had said about a third party was true. Ekim having never seen Tanizaki lose his composure in such a way desperately tried to convince him all wasn’t lost. Calming down and letting go of Ekim’s throat Tanizaki gave him one more chance by having him kill Usagi’s friend Naru in order to buy more time. Returning back to Ranma’s body Ekim made his way to Jewlery Osa-P Ekim-Ranma jumped into Naru’s room in the apartments directly above it. Grateful to take his anger out for his humiliating defeat on someone who couldn’t defend themselves, Ekim attempted to crush her skull only to unable to. Ekim didn’t fully escape Sailor Moon’s purification magic this allowed Ranma's consciousness to resurface, and fight for control of his body. Gaining control of one of his arm Ranma told Naru and her mother to find Usagi and began physically fighting his body. Knowing that he wasn’t going to be able to catch up on them Ekim left to reperform the spell using his own blood. However when he returned to the body he found that Ranma had broken his own leg to prevent him from doing anything. Refusing to fail again Ekim opened a void the the Nameless One so that he could infuse Ranma’s body with its eldritch essence. Once finished Ekim-Ranma moved to escape using the minions he summoned only to be stopped by Akane and Mousse. As Ekim fought Mousse he remembered his curse so activated it. As he figured out what to do next he witnessed Tuzedo Kamen fusing with Helios and transforming into Endymon. Fortunately he was dealing with the portal. Knowing that he wasn’t strong enough to deal with the Golden Crystal he attempted to leave only to be stopped again this time by Sailor Moon. Initially panicking at the thought of facing her upon seeing how unsteady she was he realized that Tanizaki must be making another test of his Unit Zero. Through sheer determination Moon was able to fend off Ekim’s attacks. Though he prevented her from casting her purification spell, knowing just how dangerous it was. Seeing how he activated Mousse’s curse to defeat him Moon decided to do the same, not knowing that Ranma’s curse turned him female. However since Ekim placed his spell on Ranma’s male body the transformation to female allowed Ranma to fight for control. As the two struggled for control Sailor Moon was able to fire her Crystal Power Kiss defeating Ekim and freeing Ranma. Chapter 11: Clearing the Air Tanizaki Kazuo gathered Zhang, Doctor Metzger, Nagai, and Ekim to the conference room table to discuss the Senshi finding out about their deception. Zhang was the most relaxed of them, the Chinese assassin regarding the meeting with curiosity, but no alarm. Metzger, who knew most of what Tanizaki was about to say, shifted in place with a restless mixture of excitement and anxiety. Nagai, Tanizaki's political assistant, was completely in the dark, chewing his lower lip as he tried to figure out what was going on. And Ekim looked miserable. The backlash from having his possession of Ranma forcibly terminated by Sailor Moon's holy power had not been kind to the sorcerer. A combination of him being ashamed of letting his temper get the better of him and the fact that Unit Zero was ready met that he was not angry by this fact. He realized that they most likely wouldn’t be getting Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Saturn’s blood so ordered them to be eliminated. Though he felt that it would be best to have them come to them. Metzger was going to have his people interrogate Project Janus or the time and nature of their attack only to be stopped by Tanizaki who found it suspicious that he consistently failed to predict major events that would have been invaluable to know about. The fact that he did predict something that would have blown over if they didn’t intervene made Tanizaki think that he had planned it. Metzger was skeptical since Ryo’s precognition wasn’t really that strong. However Tanizaki was no longer convinced of that. Either Ryo was to weak to be useful or was a grave threat so ordered him to be killed. Metzger became furious that one of his test subjects had been manipulating him so saw to it personally. Chapter 13: All Fall Down While Ekim’s orders were to stay in his quarters close at hand in case anything went wrong with Unit Zero. Angered by his humiliating defeat he planed on ignoring Tanizaki’s orders and avenge himself. So as he waited for the Senshi he prepared his spells. Upon sensing Konatsu’s presence Ekim welcomed him in. After dodging his spell Konatsu attacked only to find that Emik had already infused himself with the Nameless One’s corruption so instead of blood toxic sludge began spewing out of his wound. Konatsu was forced to dodge as Ekim controlled the sludge to attack him. Many soldiers, Synths and martial artists came running at the sound of combat, but the fanatical sorcerer didn't even seem to register their presence. The waves of corruption swept outward, catching many who couldn't dodge quite as well as Konatsu. Even a drop was fatal. Once it touched living skin, it ate its way into the body, spreading and growing. Ekim was able to back Konatsu into a corner, but before he could finish the ninja off he was stopped by the arrival of Sailor Mars. Despite the two of them working together Mars and Konatsu still proved to be no match for the empowered Ekim. Not even her strongest attack had any effect on him. In the end Konatsu told Sailor Mars to go destroy the source of Ekim’s power lying that he could handle him on his own. When Sailor Mars returned the fury she emitted unnerved Konatsu in ways he could not explain. Sensing steadily increase in temperature he slowly backed away. Ekim noticed as well but took no heed attack. In response Mars csaid a single word, a command."Burn." Fire immolated Ekim's entire body. It erupted from nowhere and enveloped him, leaving nothing visible except flame shaped in the outline of a man. In a crazed attempt to escape, he turned and ran only to meet the empty air of the open elevator shaft. After giving one last wailing scream of terror the sorcerer's blazing body vanished from sight, falling down the interior of the skyscraper. Chapter 14: In the Balance Ekim's inner world was nothing but darkness and agony. The only thing keeping him alive was the Nameless one whose seal was cracked by Mars’ attack. After gaining control over its host body it used its magic to gain control over the various doctors and nurses in the infirmary. Its only goal was to break the seal completely. Personality Ekim is extremely arrogant and selfish, as the Chosen of the Nameless One, he believes himself to be the greatest sorcerer of this age. Abilities As a Demonic Sorcerer Ekim uses Mana from the universe, but he mainly draws power from the Nameless One, a being that seems to feed on death. Among his abilities is possession Category:Characters Category:Tanizaki Heavy Industries